The Bethlehem Phenomenon
by Matchbox Dragon
Summary: FFPG fanfiction challenge: Christmas entry.  A retelling of the wise men following the star to Bethlehem set in modern day times. Apologies for not acknowledging the NKJV verse when first posted.


**A/N:** This Christmas one-shot is for the challenge that A.E. Hall posted on her Fanfiction Prayer Group (FFPG) Forum as follows:

_Guidelines: All entries must adhere to the challenge listed- The story entered must be a oneshot of any length that portrays some portion of the Biblical Christmas story taking place in modern day times. The story must be posted under the 'Bible' genre section and include Biblical characters. Multiple entries are acceptable._

The names I have used for the three wise men are names that come from Church tradition.

**Update 1 Dec:** When I first posted this story yesterday I used a verse from the New King James Version, but that is copyrighted - so I've changed it to the King James Version because that is public domain. Apologies for not acknowledging the NKJV verse when first posted.

* * *

**The Bethlehem Phenomenon**

_The whole world knew about it in less than 24 hours. It was on the television, radio, Facebook, Twitter and every other possible means of mass communication. The media dubbed it a 'star', because it appeared to be a large ball of bright light in the night sky. Those who were more scientifically inclined scoffed at calling it that considering it was hovering only a few hundred feet above ground level._

_Still, the name 'star' seemed to stick._

_The thing that set it apart from other unexplained lights was the fact that it didn't disappear after a few seconds or hours. It remained in place for the entire night and into the next day._

_This was a bizarre natural occurrence to beat all others. Possible explanations ranged from __bioluminescence__ to ionised gases to a magnetospheric substorm. _

_But most of the world missed out on the point of it all._

* * *

Melchior had been looking for the end of the world. A strange hobby for a 17-year-old, perhaps, although it wasn't so much that he was looking forward to it, but more that he was trying to find proof that it wasn't going to happen just yet.

He even had himself a miniature version of the Web Bot Project, a set of his own web crawlers that sought out doomsday predictions and similar information on the internet. But the programme needed some refining. Most of what the web crawlers found was more related to the hobbies of his good friends and fellow computer geeks, Caspar and Balthasar.

Caspar was positive that there was life 'out there', and that aliens had possibly even visited earth. He was hoping that Melchior's web crawlers would uncover something about government cover-ups, secret UFO files or genuine alien abduction stories.

Balthasar, on the other hand, considered himself more of a real scientist. He was more interested in following up on strange phenomena that people posted images and videos of on various forums. Melchior's web crawlers kept finding him new sources of inexplicable occurrences, the most recent of which was the strange light in the Bethlehem night sky.

Now the three of them were taking a road trip to see the phenomenon for themselves. One thing about being a certified genius was that you could miss a few days of school without a problem. Caspar was positive that it was a spaceship landing, and he desperately wanted to make sure that they got to meet the aliens before it became a political affair or got covered up.

He had even managed to convince them to bring gifts for the alien visitors as a sign of hospitality. His was some of the incense that his family burned in their entrance hall to welcome guests to their home.

Melchior had dug out some expensive perfume in an old-fashioned alabaster bottle that had been his mother's, which his father had given him because he hated the scent now that she was gone. He wasn't sure it was appropriate for the occasion, but it meant a lot to him and he just hoped the alien visitors would see that.

Balthasar wasn't buying the alien hypothesis at all, but he had brought along some extra cash in case the so-called extraterrestrial visitors needed earth currency for some reason. He kept saying that there was sure to be a rational scientific explanation for the phenomenon, but that didn't stop him from joining their expedition.

They passed through the border control without a problem until they were approached by a man in a military uniform.

"Is there a problem, Major Herod?" asked Melchior, reading the man's name and rank off his uniform.

"Do you kids have any idea what this is all about?" queried the Major. "For almost 24 hours we've been inundated with journalists, mad scientists, weirdos, hippies and freaks, and each one's given me a different story."

"It's aliens," responded Caspar eagerly. "They've come to visit Earth."

Herod looked at him sharply. "Aliens? Sure about that?"

Caspar seemed a bit shocked by the harshness of his reaction. "Um, maybe," he said more uncertainly. "It's just a theory, you know, I don't really know anything."

"Right," said Herod. "Well, if you find these aliens, come back and tell me so that I can go have a look too."

"Sure, will do," Melchior answered for his friend, confused by his sudden reticence, and they went back to the car.

"We shouldn't come back this way and tell him," said Caspar quietly as they drove off. "He's military; he's just going to go and blow up any aliens he finds. Or take them prisoner in some Area 51 type facility."

"What makes you so sure about that?"

"I don't know. Something's just telling me Major Herod doesn't merely want to 'look'."

"You watch too many movies," commented Balthasar from the backseat without looking up from his ever-present laptop.

"So does he, I think," Caspar shot back. "That's why he'll want to blow them up."

It had been dark for hours by the time they reached Bethlehem. There was a huge throng of people out in the fields around the village, ranging from researchers with a variety of equipment to a bunch of hippies camping out in tents.

As they got out of the car Balthasar handed them each heavy welding goggles and put a special lens onto his camera. Through the goggles they could see that the light was both complex and beautiful, continually in gentle motion but remaining in the same position.

"So," said Melchior, waving off an enterprising local trying to offer his services as a tourguide, "Any ideas what we're looking at, Balthasar?"

"Not yet," came the slightly irritated reply. "I've only just set up the analysis. But so far it's showing properties of a number of unexplained natural phenomena, although none of them have been reported to be so stable and they definitely shouldn't be co-existing. You see..."

Melchior tuned out his further technobabble about those occurences – partly because he'd already heard it all on the trip – and looked around for Caspar who was desperately asking everyone nearby if they had seen any aliens. He returned to the others looking extremely disappointed that there seemed to be no sign of any visitors from outerspace. The closest he'd found was a couple of wierdos who also believed the phenomenon was a UFO, but they hadn't seen any evidence of extraterrestrial occupants.

"Maybe this isn't actually their arrival," said Melchior, trying to cheer him up. "Maybe this is a message saying that they're _going_ to be coming."

"So we're supposed to interpret it to mean something? How exactly?"

"Look at this," Balthasar interrupted. He'd been checking the news feeds and blogs while his laptop was analysing his camera images of the strange light. "Someone's posted on this forum about some ancient Jewish prophecy: 'But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.'."

"What are you saying?" said Caspar. "That this isn't aliens after all? Just some politician?"

"How many politicians get heralded like _that_?" remarked Melchior with a nod towards the phenomenon.

"This is almost starting to look like it's something supernatural," said Balthasar thoughtfully.

"I thought you said there was a rational explanation for all this?" Caspar challenged.

"I know, but I'm beginning to wonder..."

"Wonder what?" asked Melchior.

"I don't know yet," Balthasar admitted quietly. "And that scares me. But there's something about this Jewish prophecy that rings true, I can't explain it."

They stood for a while in silence, contemplating that thought, ignoring the hubbub of the crowd until someone grabbed Caspar by the arm.

"Praise God! The Messiah has come!" the man exclaimed.

"Who's come?" Caspar asked, looking hopeful again.

"The Messiah has been born," said another man. They looked like security guards of some sort. "We've seen him, just like the Angels said."

"What Angels?" asked Balthasar, also interested now.

The two men pointed upwards. "We saw them, and heard them. They were all around the star and singing praises to God, but no one else heard them."

"Only you?"

"Yes, us and some other night guards," answered the second man. "They told us to go and see the child and who He is."

There was something contagious about their enthusiasm. It wasn't the hyped-up frenzy of the star-fanatics, but rather a genuine glow, as if they had seen something truly wonderful and life-changing.

Now that ancient Jewish prophecy was looking even more realistic.

"Where is the child?" asked Melchior.

The security guards pointed to a tent that was a bit away from the rest, pitched in a small field among sleeping cattle and sheep, and bathed in the light of the so-called star.

Caspar and Melchior exchanged a look and then headed off for the tent. Without a word, Balthasar quickly packed up his camera and laptop, and hurried after them.

Melchior ducked into the tent and fell to his knees when he saw the child in the arms of his young mother.

This wasn't any ordinary baby. He couldn't explain it, but he just felt in his heart that this child really was the Messiah.

He awkwardly placed his mother's bottle of perfume on the ground, next to the feet of the child's mother, feeling embarrassed at the inadequacy of the gift. But actually, no tribute would really be enough.

* * *

As they drove off, Melchior looked back at the throng of star-enthusiasts and thought how tragic it was that most of people at Bethlehem that night had missed the whole point. After leaving the tent, he and his friends had tried to tell the people about the baby, but most of them had scoffed at the idea. Some had seemed interested but hadn't made any move to go and see.

But a few individuals – the security guards and some others – had, like the three of them, had found far more than they'd ever expected.

Caspar had wanted to meet an alien visitor to Earth. Instead he met the Son of God.

Balthasar had been looking for a rational explanation for an unbelievable phenomenon. Instead he came to believe in the One who had created it all.

And Melchior had been looking for the end of the world. Instead he found the Saviour of the world. He wasn't afraid of doomsday anymore. As soon as he got home he was going to reprogramme his web bots to keep track of this child instead, and follow him as he grew up.

When they reached the main road, Melchior turned the opposite direction they had come from and headed for the other border post. They definitely weren't going back to tell Major Herod about it. He just wouldn't understand.

But _they_ did. And none of them would ever be the same again.


End file.
